Talk:Hindsight
This has me worried--Please tell me HT didn't do his own "Isn't it terrible how anti-intellectual the world has come because people don't agree with me anymore, if only people were smart like I am and not stupid" self-affirmation? Turtle Fan 18:56, 27 February 2008 (UTC) :I didn't read it that way, but you might. :One important event that suggests HT isn't writing a self-affirmation is the fact that the main character pointedly doesn't have an affair with the timetraveler. His 1950s values are preferrable to her 1980s values. :Incidentally, the timetraveler isn't particularly likeable. TR 19:38, 27 February 2008 (UTC) ::I didnt' read it that way either. And yeah, she's not unlikable, she's perfectly 'modern'. I really liked the added layer of irony the story takes on 20 years after its written, when even more has happened since then. The idea of record players being cutting edge, or the Cold War still relevant. Intriguing. Elefuntboy 01:45, 28 February 2008 (UTC) All right. In my experience, people who blame a lack of intelligence for the woes of their era are usually just trying to flatter themselves and the people who agree with them that they would have known better, that they're smarter than the average bear. Turtle Fan 13:39, 28 February 2008 (UTC) :But he's not blaming a lack of intelligence. His character, the modern Michelle Gordian, doesnt' even believe that. She thinks that the loss of nerve, or imagination, or standards have led to an American decline. Elefuntboy 18:18, 28 February 2008 (UTC) ::Wasn't there something in here somewhere about a lack of "reason" being to blame? I could have sworn I read that. Turtle Fan 18:58, 28 February 2008 (UTC) :::From the Michelle Gordian article: :::"As Mark, Michelle hoped to introduce ideas of hope, problem solving, and ingenuity into the timestream in order to prevent the outright apathy and disillusionment that characterized the 1983 of her timeline." :::You are partially correct TF in that the character was trying to advocate logical thinking but also to counter act the cynicism to come of the public to government institutions. Also, it would be harder to get so embroiled in Vietnam after Tet Offensive and Watergate after a story of the same name. ML4E 03:44, 29 February 2008 (UTC) ::::Ah, here it is: "Gordian claimed that her primary purpose in going back in time was to prevent what she saw as a decline in logical thinking and an appreciation for science in her own world." That was the origin of my fear of intellectual snobbery. Then again, you're the ones who read it, so you'd know better than I would. Turtle Fan 09:08, 29 February 2008 (UTC) Oh my God, did we just have a slightly nuanced, interesting discussion between nerdy AH fans on what a HT book meant? Wow. :) I knew this was a good site. Elefuntboy 00:59, 1 March 2008 (UTC) Similar works by Turtledove I do not think "Hindsight" is at all similar to WHGTY. The only similarity is that they are time travel stories. GotS does have some similarities since the time travelers are trying to change the future by traveling to the past in both stories. ML4E (talk) 22:27, September 6, 2016 (UTC) :HS and WHGTY both focus on people reading works of fiction that haven't been written yet. See one of the entries at the bottom of Turtledove's Tropes.JonathanMarkoff (talk) 22:29, September 6, 2016 (UTC) ::Well, no, no one reads anything in WHGTY. More importantly, the acting company there is just doing what they have to in order to get by. The connection is tenuous. Turtle Fan (talk) 00:45, September 8, 2016 (UTC)